The PITFOAETTC Factor
PITFOAETTC (Pronounced pitfoeic) stands for Persistance In The Face Of All Evidence To The Contrary. First coined as a Wuggit Olympic Event (see under Wuggit Olympics at Drumrattle.com) it describes those individuals who will insist they are right no matter what irrefutable evidence to the contrary is put to them.
Like those awful auditionees who are seemingly unable to actually hear the evidence of their own ears when they murder great songs with their caterwauls, cry buckets of disbelieving tears when told they are shite, and then come back the year after sounding even worse after singing lessons.
It is also a trait of a creature called a Wuggit (see above site also) and is demonstrated in no creature better than the so called Inflammation Wuggit, as demonstrated by her alter-ego in the example below
Like those awful auditionees who are seemingly unable to actually hear the evidence of their own ears when they murder great songs with their caterwauls, cry buckets of disbelieving tears when told they are shite, and then come back the year after sounding even worse after singing lessons.
It is also a trait of a creature called a Wuggit (see above site also) and is demonstrated in no creature better than the so called Inflammation Wuggit, as demonstrated by her alter-ego in the example below
The PITFOAETTC Factor is demonstrated in the following conversation but first, note the irrefutable evidence.
'If you say 'an otel' when speaking (which is now often regarded as distinctly old-fashioned), then it may be appropriate for you to write 'an hotel'; but most people say 'hotel' with a sounded 'h', and should write 'a hotel'.' By contrast, words such as 'honour', 'heir' or 'hour' in which the 'h' sound is dropped are written with 'an'. Americans who drop the 'h' in 'herb' may also prefer to write 'an herb', but in standard British pronunciation the 'h' is sounded, and 'a herb' is therefore correct in writing. Because 'European' is said with an initial 'y' sound, which counts as a consonantal sound in English speech, it is said (and written) with 'a' not 'an'. An abbreviation such as M.P., which is pronounced em pea, begins with a spoken vowel, and so it is 'an M.P.'
(Source: Ask Oxford, Oxford University)
FlamingRoyal: it is most definitely "an hotel"
Rick Primi GB: flaming, incorrect, unless every reference book in existence is wrong lol
Elkie540: i dont think the people who wrote the oxford dictionary are uneducated somehow. It even EXPLAINS that it is old fashioned to say 'an hotel'
FlamingRoyal: it is not an archaic saying, it is quite correct
Elkie540: its not
FlamingRoyal: oh yes it is
Elkie540: i researched this carefully and its A hotel!
FlamingRoyal: I have used Chat rooms for long enough to discern the dumbing down of the English language, it comes as no surprise to note that people do not know the correct usage of "a" and "an"
Cruella de Surf: it's phonetic, in this instance, ie. AN MA, AN MP, A EUropean
Elkie540: yes surf..that is exactly what it says on ask oxford, hotel used to be pronounced without aspirating the h, otel hence the an,then it was AN 'otel, now its A hotel
FlamingRoyal: no that isn't the reason at all, it depends on the emphasis on the syllable
Elkie540: nothing to do with emphasis, its to do with whether you pronounce
the h or not
FlamingRoyal: elkie it is the emphasis on the syllable of the following word
which governs the correct pronounciation
Rick Primi GB: lol flaming, no matter how many times you say it, you're
still wrong lol
FlamingRoyal: no it is on the syllable
Rick Primi GB: perhaps someone should explain to flaming the difference
between a syllable and a consonant
Cruella de Surf: Rick I fear that would be fruitless ... LMAO the syllable being confooosed with a consonant, with the exception of the silent letter
FlamingRoyal: so it is an hoTEL
FlamingRoyal: no, I am correct, I know this.
FlamingRoyal: rik, are you incapable of understanding a simple grammatical
rule?
FlamingRoyal: when a noun begins with the letter H then whether you say a or
an depends on how the syllables in that word are pronounced
Rick Primi GB: no flaming, this time I will explain it slowly, as you are
clearly having difficulty understanding, the prefix a or an are used only if
the H is pronounced
FlamingRoyal: it is definitely a HURricane
it has nothing to do with whether or not you pronounce the H
(or the haitch as you would call it), it has to do with the emphasis on the
syllable of the word following
I can assure you that it is only governed by the emphasis on
the syllables in the word following
Rubella Larkin: so the 'a' or 'an' is decided by the T in otel?
Rubella Larkin: naaah its to do with aspirated aitches
Haiku: a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables
divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative
allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the
seasons. (OED)
FlamingRoyal: actually the Haikku has two superfluous syllables
Rick Primi: haiku
FlamingRoyal: haikku has two Ks
Rick Primi GB: one k in haiku, and as it begins with h, it must be, an
haiiku
FlamingRoyal: there are two Ks, I am clearly dealing with people who went to secondary modern schools
Rubella Larkin: I've googled, it says ' No results found for haikku. Did you mean haiku (in dictionary) or Haiku (in encyclopedia)?
Slapheadbog1: rubes... fkn SHITLOADS found for HAIKU
Rick Primi GB: slap, you might add, for flaming's benefit, that h does not
count as one of the syllables
FlamingRoyal: hardly an haikku
FlamingRoyal: 2 k's in haikku
FlamingRoyal: it's haikku
'If you say 'an otel' when speaking (which is now often regarded as distinctly old-fashioned), then it may be appropriate for you to write 'an hotel'; but most people say 'hotel' with a sounded 'h', and should write 'a hotel'.' By contrast, words such as 'honour', 'heir' or 'hour' in which the 'h' sound is dropped are written with 'an'. Americans who drop the 'h' in 'herb' may also prefer to write 'an herb', but in standard British pronunciation the 'h' is sounded, and 'a herb' is therefore correct in writing. Because 'European' is said with an initial 'y' sound, which counts as a consonantal sound in English speech, it is said (and written) with 'a' not 'an'. An abbreviation such as M.P., which is pronounced em pea, begins with a spoken vowel, and so it is 'an M.P.'
(Source: Ask Oxford, Oxford University)
FlamingRoyal: it is most definitely "an hotel"
Rick Primi GB: flaming, incorrect, unless every reference book in existence is wrong lol
Elkie540: i dont think the people who wrote the oxford dictionary are uneducated somehow. It even EXPLAINS that it is old fashioned to say 'an hotel'
FlamingRoyal: it is not an archaic saying, it is quite correct
Elkie540: its not
FlamingRoyal: oh yes it is
Elkie540: i researched this carefully and its A hotel!
FlamingRoyal: I have used Chat rooms for long enough to discern the dumbing down of the English language, it comes as no surprise to note that people do not know the correct usage of "a" and "an"
Cruella de Surf: it's phonetic, in this instance, ie. AN MA, AN MP, A EUropean
Elkie540: yes surf..that is exactly what it says on ask oxford, hotel used to be pronounced without aspirating the h, otel hence the an,then it was AN 'otel, now its A hotel
FlamingRoyal: no that isn't the reason at all, it depends on the emphasis on the syllable
Elkie540: nothing to do with emphasis, its to do with whether you pronounce
the h or not
FlamingRoyal: elkie it is the emphasis on the syllable of the following word
which governs the correct pronounciation
Rick Primi GB: lol flaming, no matter how many times you say it, you're
still wrong lol
FlamingRoyal: no it is on the syllable
Rick Primi GB: perhaps someone should explain to flaming the difference
between a syllable and a consonant
Cruella de Surf: Rick I fear that would be fruitless ... LMAO the syllable being confooosed with a consonant, with the exception of the silent letter
FlamingRoyal: so it is an hoTEL
FlamingRoyal: no, I am correct, I know this.
FlamingRoyal: rik, are you incapable of understanding a simple grammatical
rule?
FlamingRoyal: when a noun begins with the letter H then whether you say a or
an depends on how the syllables in that word are pronounced
Rick Primi GB: no flaming, this time I will explain it slowly, as you are
clearly having difficulty understanding, the prefix a or an are used only if
the H is pronounced
FlamingRoyal: it is definitely a HURricane
it has nothing to do with whether or not you pronounce the H
(or the haitch as you would call it), it has to do with the emphasis on the
syllable of the word following
I can assure you that it is only governed by the emphasis on
the syllables in the word following
Rubella Larkin: so the 'a' or 'an' is decided by the T in otel?
Rubella Larkin: naaah its to do with aspirated aitches
Haiku: a major form of Japanese verse, written in 17 syllables
divided into 3 lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, and employing highly evocative
allusions and comparisons, often on the subject of nature or one of the
seasons. (OED)
FlamingRoyal: actually the Haikku has two superfluous syllables
Rick Primi: haiku
FlamingRoyal: haikku has two Ks
Rick Primi GB: one k in haiku, and as it begins with h, it must be, an
haiiku
FlamingRoyal: there are two Ks, I am clearly dealing with people who went to secondary modern schools
Rubella Larkin: I've googled, it says ' No results found for haikku. Did you mean haiku (in dictionary) or Haiku (in encyclopedia)?
Slapheadbog1: rubes... fkn SHITLOADS found for HAIKU
Rick Primi GB: slap, you might add, for flaming's benefit, that h does not
count as one of the syllables
FlamingRoyal: hardly an haikku
FlamingRoyal: 2 k's in haikku
FlamingRoyal: it's haikku
The PITFOAETTC Factor by Dr Samuel S Johnson October 20, 2008
Get the The PITFOAETTC Factor mug.